In current enterprises and systems, each user has many user-names and passwords. Single sign-on systems are currently developed and deployed which require the user to know only a single user-ID and password to access the enterprise systems. However, since several sites may require such a password protection, it is cumbersome for the user to type the same password at multiple sites.
The current state of the art for enabling users to access the network typically requires the use of an access-point for the user laptop to connect to the enterprise network. The access point could be the wireless access point if the user is accessing a local 802.1x network of the user, a virtual private network (VPN) gateway if the user is dialing into the VPN server of an enterprise, the first router on the path of a physical network connecting the user to the enterprise network etc. Typically, the access-point would have a mechanism to authenticate the user device to the network, for example 802.1x access would require a Wired Equivalent Privacy (WEP) password, or a Lightweight Extensible Authentication Protocol (LEAP) user-ID and password. VPN gateway access would require a user-issued certificate or user-ID and password information, wired access may require Remote Authentication Dial-In User Service (RADIUS) authentication with a user-ID and password or other credentials. The user-ID and password is the key to associating an identity with the user. Currently, the credentials used in the wireless access point authentication cannot be shared with other applications running in the enterprise.
Current solutions for asset notification usually do not send notification before disconnecting a user. Also, such solutions generally have out of date information, or use mechanisms that are not accessible when the machine is disconnected.
It would thus be desirable to over come the limitations in previous approaches.